Koko- a group of 6 musicians, lead by singer and balafon player Madou Kone.
It is the fourth track in the album 'Burkina Faso: Balafons et Tambours d'Afrique in 2002.
Yiri is the local word for 'wood', which could refer to the fact that all the instruments in the piece are made of wood, apart from the bell.
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Instrumentation and Texture
Djembe: a drum played with hands, played by Jacouba Kane
Dunun/dundun: bass drum similar to djembe.
Bara: Small drum with a warm tone, often accompanying the balafon.
Talking drum: imitates human speech, and is hit with a stick.
Balafon: Like a xylophone; tuned to different pitches. It has resonators underneath that act as an amplifier. It plays in tremolos in the introduction.
Vocals: Koko. Soloist and choir.
The texture is layered:
there is a monophonic balafon solo in the introduction.
The lower balafon joins in during the introduction, and then the djembe and drums join in one by one.
There are occasional heterophonic textures, where 2 balafons play different versions of the same tune at the same time.
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Structure
Intro: in free time.
Chorus A: Unison voices.
Balafon solo: Drum accompanient.
Chorus A
Balafon solo
Vocal solo
Balafon solo
Chorus B
Balafon Solo
Chorus A
Final Balafon Solo
Coda: new idea for both balafons, repeated and extended to form a 2 bar unit. Drum ostinati are interrupted by rests and the bell is sounded to mark the end.
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Melody, Harmony and Tonality
Intro: balafon outlines all 7 pitches of the scale and uses acciaccaturas. The balafon is rather high-pitched.
Balafons mostly play short patterns falling from high to low, emphasising the tonic and dominant. They have solo breaks between choruses.
The chorus also has short, falling phrases emphasising the tonic and dominant and chorus B has the same falling outline as A.
Coda: the ending is indicated with a new melodic idea, then the bell sounds.
It is in the diatonic key of Gb major.
It is mostly hexatonic, due to the lack of use of F, which makes it sound modal.
There is, however, a prominent use of Gb and Db, which strongly establishes the key of Gb major.
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Rhythm, Metre and Tempo
Intro: tremolos on the balafon in order to sustain the sound.
The balafons use lively cross rhythms through out the piece.
The intro is also in free tempo, and is in 4/4.
The metre stays in 4/4 for most of the piece, apart from brief changes to 3/4,5/4 and 6/4.
The djembe decorates basic rhythms in order to move the music forward.
The vocal solo starts on a long note and ends on short phrases.
There is no change in tempo all the way through; not even near the end of the piece.
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